“It is a miracle that you have never killed anyone,” a judge told a serial bad driver as he sent him back to jail.

He was sentencing white van driver Aaron Benjamin Barnsley, from Bradford, for hurtling through Skipton at 70mph and ramming two police cars during a high-speed pursuit.

Prosecution barrister Joe Culley said Barnsley was banned from the roads, on prison licence, and driving a vehicle with false number plates.

York Crown Court heard it was Barnsley’s 11th conviction for dangerous driving or taking a vehicle without consent aggravated by dangerous driving spread over 18 years.

“You have got one of the worst driving records I have ever seen,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Barnsley.

“It is a miracle that you have never killed anyone. You don’t give a damn.

“You will be subject to the maximum sentence of dangerous driving every time you appear before me. There is no mitigation other than the guilty plea.”

Barnsley, 37, of Broadstone Way, Bradford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

The judge gave him the maximum sentence he could for the dangerous driving - 18 months - and added four months for driving whilst disqualified.

Barnsley was banned from the roads for another 46 months and ordered to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

Mr Culley said police spotted Barnsley in “somewhat suspicious circumstances” with a white Ford transit van near Skipton at 9.50pm on November 9.

He made off and they gave chase, reaching 70mph through Skipton where the speed limit is 30mph and continuing through Steeton and Sutton-in-Craven.

On Hollins Bank Lane, in Steeton, Barnsley rammed a police car by reversing towards it as it came round a corner, pushing it back a short distance.

Shortly afterwards, on a narrow country lane, he stopped and reversed into the police car again.

One police officer was injured in the lower back during the pursuit and had to receive medical treatment and the police BMW was damaged.

At the end of the pursuit Barnsley fled on foot into a wooded area but was arrested after he had been threatened by a taser.

Defence barrister Tom Jackson said: “There is little that can be said about this driving and his poor record.”

The pursuit had been short, lasting only eight minutes.

The collision had not been head-on and had not occurred at high speed, said the defence barrister.

Barnsley was now motivated to lead a law-abiding life on his release, said Mr Jackson.